# Does POTUS Biden believe that he's the smartest in the room? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 25, 2022, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330 "2022-01-25T00:21:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330/61 "2022-01-26T21:11:56Z")
You don’t seem to be nearly as upset by all the times Trump plagiarized others. > **[Trump plagiarized his endorsement of Fox News' Jesse Watters book by cribbing...](https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-plagiarized-his-endorsement-of-fox-news-jesse-watters-book-2021-7)** > > This did not mark the first time Trump or someone linked to him have repurposed someone else's words. > **[A big chunk of Trump’s 1776 report appears lifted from an author’s prior work](https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/19/trump-1776-report-plagiarism-460464)** > > The report was meant to be the definitive conservative rendering of U.S. history. But historians have slammed it as sloppy and slanted. Notice no one was fired for this one. > **[No one to be fired after Melania Trump speech plagiarism episode | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/19/politics/melania-trump-michelle-obama-speech/index.html)** > > Donald Trump's presidential campaign doesn't plan to fire anybody or to take disciplinary action over the controversy surrounding Melania Trump's plagiarism of Michelle Obama, CNN learned Tuesday. > **[The Top 6 Trump Administration Plagiarism Scandals (So Far) - Plagiarism Today](https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2017/01/24/the-top-6-trump-administration-plagiarism-scandals-so-far/)** > > President Trump's campaign and now Presidency have bore witness to a rise of plagiarism stories. Here's a breakdown of the main ones. > **[Everything Donald Trump Has Plagiarized](https://www.thedailybeast.com/everything-donald-trump-has-plagiarized)** > > Melania Trump’s RNC speech appears lifted from one of Michelle Obama’s. But the Trump family has had a long affair with copy-paste. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330/62 "2022-01-26T21:19:06Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Yes, this is correct (and has been every time it’s been pointed out for the past 35 years). But don’t expect right-wingers to retire this talking point, because it’s their biggest lifeboat when they want to make Biden a liar. > > The fact is that politicians are frequent public speakers, and as such they are going to bobble their words and misspeak. This is _clearly_ not what happened. Biden took Kinnock’s speech and carefully inserted himself and his wife and family and told it as a story about his own experiences. That’s not an accident. That’s not ‘forgetting to attribute a quote’. There’s no way that happens by accident. Do you think he accidentally forgot that his family weren’t coal miners? That his wife’s father and sister both went to college before her? Did he forget that he wasn’t the first member of his family to go to college? What you are repeating as facts that everyone knows was in fact spin from his campaign manager. No one bought it, and Biden ended his presidential run soon afterwards. It was a BIG deal at the time. I remember it well. Biden was a running joke on late night TV after that. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330/63 "2022-01-26T21:21:41Z")
> [@](#): > > You don’t seem to be nearly as upset by all the times Trump plagiarized others. Bothsidesism. And Trump isn’t President. And I have never supported Trump and have always known he was a serial liar. Is that the bar we are going for now? Trump lies too, so it’s okay? Yay. Other than that, good work. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330/64 "2022-01-26T21:22:23Z")
Perhaps because this isn’t one of the 10450122 threads on Trump? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330/65 "2022-01-26T21:25:43Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Most of these (uncited) claims are either completely or partially inaccurate. Name one, and I’ll cite it for you. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330/66 "2022-01-26T21:25:47Z")
Biden plagiarized Kinnock in the 80s. And paid a hefty political price for it. Who cares? How could this possibly be relevant now? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330/67 "2022-01-26T21:25:59Z")
Cite for all of them aside from the plagiarism and the Mother Jones cite you already gave. Especially anything since the 80s. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330/68 "2022-01-26T21:31:01Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Bothsidesism. And Trump isn’t President. And I have never supported Trump and have always known he was a serial liar. I just looked through some of your posts in P&E mentioning Trump. You’re far more supportive of Trump than you are of Biden. Barely any criticism and even approval of some of Trump’s actions. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330/69 "2022-01-26T21:35:01Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > This is not remotely accurate. He doesn’t continue to claim this and he made peace with the driver’s family in 2009. He did, however, genuinely believe that a drunk driver caused the accident. It was a prevalent belief in the local community and among fire rescue workers in the area as well. That’s what they say now. But the police report was clear. Biden’s wife was at a stop sign, she then rolled onto the highway and was struck by a semi. The driver of the semi was not charged, and alcohol was determined to be not a factor in any way. You appear to be correct that Biden didn’t mention it again after he got called out by th pe family in 2009, so I’ll retract the part about him saying it more recently. But he said it more than once before then, when he knew what the official police report said. If he thought it was a drunk driver, that’s just another example of Biden needing to embellish everything. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330/70 "2022-01-26T21:36:15Z")
I’m not falling for your sealioning. Tell me what you think is wrong, and I’ll cite it. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330/71 "2022-01-26T21:36:33Z")
How about a cite for all of this? Cite that the driver of the semi wasn’t charged? Cite that they positively determined that “alcohol was not a factor in any way”? Cite that he “knew what the official police report said”? I hope you’ll understand that I trust your own uncited posts about as much as I trust the tweets of a recent former president. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330/72 "2022-01-26T21:38:10Z")
I think all of it’s wrong except what was already cited. I know your claim about Biden and Iraq in 2007 is incorrect – perhaps more charitably, you just greatly embellished what he actually said, the context, and surrounding facts (ironic, considering your stated opinion on embellishment). Presumably your accuracy on the other uncited claims is similar – or at least that’s my assumption without cites. EDIT: You just walked back a big part of your “drunk driving” claim. And you’re really surprised when we don’t trust your other uncited claims? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330/73 "2022-01-26T21:39:46Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > I just looked through some of your posts in P&E mentioning Trump. You’re far more supportive of Trump than you are of Biden. Barely any criticism and even approval of some of Trump’s actions. Did you see the one where I called him ‘a stain on the Presidency’? Oh, and why is my opinion of Trump even relevant to a cited link to what Biden said? This is just another form of personal attack. I could be the most rabid Teump supporter around, or the biggest Teump hater, and it would have _no relevance_ in determin8ng whether what I said about Biden is true. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330/74 "2022-01-26T21:42:37Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Name one, and I’ll cite it for you. You claimed that Biden didn’t study political science, even though his degree is in “history and political science” (from your very own link). The University of Delaware itself calls it a “double major”: [http://www1.udel.edu/udmessenger/vol16no3/stories/features\_biden.html](http://www1.udel.edu/udmessenger/vol16no3/stories/features_biden.html) Whether or not you want to nitpick the difference between degrees and majors, it’s wholly inaccurate to say he didn’t study political science. To remind you of what you said: > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > That would be tough to do, since he didn’t study political science. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330/75 "2022-01-26T21:42:40Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > How about a cite for all of this? Cite that the driver of the semi wasn’t charged? Cite that they positively determined that “alcohol was not a factor in any way”? Cite that he “knew what the official police report said”? From Politifact: > [@](#): > > - Curtis Dunn, was driving a tractor-trailer when he collided with the station wagon that Neilia Biden, Joe Biden’s first wife, was driving. > - Neilia Biden and her and Joe Biden’s young daughter, Naomi, who they called Amy, were killed. > - **Dunn was not charged in the collision and there was no evidence he had been drinking.** > - Neilia Biden, who had a stop sign, pulled into his right of way when the crash occurred. Bolding mine. > **[PolitiFact - Social media posts are making claims about a Biden family...](https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/oct/04/social-media-posts-are-making-claims-about-biden-f/)** > > Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has endured several major losses since he stepped into political life. In 2015 And are you seriously suggesting that Joe Biden _didn’t_ know the details of his wife’s death? C’mon, man. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330/76 "2022-01-26T21:43:38Z")
Some of that is different than what you claimed. I don’t see anything that suggests the police positively determined that “alcohol was not a factor in any way”, and that Biden necessarily “knew what the official police report said”. When criticizing someone else’s lies or embellishments, I’d recommend not making embellishments yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330/77 "2022-01-26T21:48:55Z")
Oh? What is different? No, I didn’t use the exact words, _because I never read this particular article before I described what happened_. But it is materially the same, and you know it. Also, you need to stop accusing me of lying outside of the pit. Actually, you should stop accusing me of it at all, since I keep backing up my ‘lies’ with cites. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330/78 "2022-01-26T21:50:33Z")
I don’t think you lied – I think you said something inaccurate because you thought it was true but didn’t know. And now, hopefully, you know that it was wrong and inaccurate to say that it’s a fact (rather than your opinion, or your guess, or your supposition) that the police positively determined that “alcohol was not a factor in any way”, and that Biden “knew what the official police report said”. Those are different things than the information in your cite. Also, your statement about Biden and Iraq in 2007 was [factually incorrect](https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/feb/08/context-joe-bidens-remarks-about-being-shot-iraq/) (in that Biden, or the location he was in, may well have been shot at – he was certainly in the area of active fighting on multiple occasions). Without cites, I’m assuming the remainder of your uncited claims are similarly inaccurate, embellished, etc. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330/79 "2022-01-26T21:54:36Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I could be the most rabid Teump supporter around, or the biggest Teump hater, and it would have _no relevance_ in determin8ng whether what I said about Biden is true. No, but it does explain your biases, why you believe and repeat these things that are repeatedly shown to be either blown out of proportion or entirely fabricated. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330/80 "2022-01-26T21:58:21Z")
If you’re going to slam someone for supposedly repeated lies, embellishments, inaccuracies, etc., are you really going to be surprised, and then complain, when someone goes through your own claims for possible embellishments and inaccuracies? It pays to be careful when making such accusations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-potus-biden-believe-that-hes-the-smartest-in-the-room/958330.md?page=5)